What're you gonna do? After what qualifies as an offensive explosion for us, Daisuke gave it right back and more in a horrible, horrible, first inning. There seems to be some miscommunication about injury status between Daisuke and the organization; personally I'm ready for him to be put on the shelf with WBC-itis for a couple of weeks. He can spend that time in the Bahamas for all I care. Rest, for crying out loud.
And you can't really blame the offense for this one, at least until extras started. 5 runs in 9 innings in an away game should be enough. Youkilis and Bay continue to be our most dangerous hitters, though Drew, DP, and Lowell all chipped in tonight. Who thought we'd be at this point and '[Empty] would be the least of our worries offensively: at least we expected him to suck. Papi, Ellsbury, and really, Lowell, DP and Drew too, we're ready for you guys to get it going. DP can get a bit of a reprieve in terms of bashing; I'm thinking everyone has probably seen by now that he and his family have been getting some death threats lately...
Is there a positive? The non-Lopez pen did everything you could ask and more. Masterson, MDC, Ramon Ramirez, Hideki Okajima and Paps all came in and did excellent work. According to Extra Bases/Adam Kilgore, Ramon even offered to come out and pitch another inning after his 1 1/3 was done. It's hard to put a lot of blame on Lopez either; he was pitching his third day in a row and the balls put in play against him were hit pretty weakly in the infield. The walks are troublesome, and ultimately what resulted in his undoing, but he attempted to rally and did get a K and a bad bouncer out of Buck that ended up the difference in this game.
The Sox close it out later today against the A's behind Tim Wakefield. First pitch from Brett Anderson/Another F'n LHer @ 3:35 EST.